We’re used to seeing many adorable videos of unlikely animal friendships, but none compared to Koko and her kittens.

Koko the gorilla became famous around the world after learning how to communicate with sign language. Her care taker, Francine “Penny” Patterson, taught Koko how to sign over 1,000 different words, and understand another 2,000.

She was born at the San Francisco Zoo, and lived for 46 years, which is beyond the life expectancy of a normal gorilla.

Koko became famous at the San Francisco Zoo from the day she was born in 1971. She was the first gorilla born in captivity to be accepted by her mother.

It may come as a surprise, but it’s common for new borns to be ostracized by the rest of the troop. If the mothers don’t bond with their babies, the babies are bottle fed and taken care of by staff. They’re then moved to another zoo where they can integrate more easily.

Koko’s mother took care of her for almost a year before Koko suffered a life-threatening illness and was taken into the strict care of zoo staff.

Penny Patterson became Koko’s care-taker while studying at Stanford University for her Ph.D in developmental psychology. What was originally meant to be a few years of study, turned into Koko spending the rest of her life with Patterson.

The two had an incredible bond!

After years of work together, Koko was able to communicate at the same level as a three year old child.

Ndume, a male gorilla who had been born at the Cincinnati Zoo, was transferred to San Francisco to live with Koko. The two tried to have a baby, but Koko suffered a miscarriage.

She never had a child of her own, and Patterson believes Koko desperately wanted to be a mother.

She used her communicated skills to one day ask Patterson for a kitten. Koko had always loved books about cats, and felt like she wanted one to take care of.

Her care givers gave her stuffed toy cats, but Koko signed that she was “sad” and the fake kittens wouldn’t do.

In 1984, her team got her a special birthday surprise. A litter of kittens had been abandoned, so they let her choose one to adopt. She chose a tailless Manx, and named it All Ball, which is no surprise because she loved rhyming words.

She developed a strong bond with the kitten, and loved it like her own child.

In a tragic turn of events, All Ball escaped the enclosure one day and was hit by car. This was obviously tragic and hard for Koko to understand.

She wept and refused to accept the news that was communicated to her through sign-language and speech.

After All Ball passed away, Koko was given the opportunity to adopt two new kittens, which helped her recover from her grief.

Again, she loved them as if they were her own little babies to care for.

Unfortunately, the life span of a cat is nowhere near as long as a gorilla. And Koko’s cats passed away again. She was always devastated by the loss.

She had several cats during her lifetime, and took care of them all like her own children.

Before passing away in 2018 at the age of 46, Koko once again adopted two more kittens, named Ms. Grey and Ms. Black.

It was another match made in heaven and the kittens loved their adoptive gorilla mother.

They attended her funeral which drew people in from around the world.

“The fact that Koko can love, that we can love each other even though we’re a different species, really gets people thinking deeply about life. And that’s what we need to do.” Francine “Penny” Patterson

Watch the heart-warming video below to learn more about Koko and her adopted kittens.

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Source: kokoflix, Metro, How Stuff Works